he's evil
by mayarmayar
Summary: Erza's lip curled down in distaste. "He's evil." - A two-scene recollection of Erza's encounters with Magic Council member Siegrain, and how he felt like a ghost from her past that haunted her. /one-shot


The first time she saw him on the Council, everything in her froze.

Not because of Gray's Ice Make magic, though it certainly felt the same way. Time, too, froze, stuttering to a stop, and so did she, her halted footsteps muffled against the carpet.

Then their eyes met, brown against green, hers tracing the ominous red pattern inked around his, and before she knew it, she was no longer frozen—lunging towards him with a guttural growl. Around her, a plethora of gasps sounded out, and then several Council guards were rushing forward and pulling her back by the shoulders. She could easily force out of their grip if she wanted to, but she knew better than to rile up the Council.

Even so, he was the last person she'd expected to be on the Magic Council.

"Erza Scarlet," one of the Councillors boomed, and she gritted her teeth. "Attacking a Council member is a crime punishable by law. Do you wish to receive a heavier sentence than your current crime begs?"

"No." She narrowed her eyes at the man in front of her. He didn't seem to recognise her, but that couldn't be possible—their histories were so tightly intertwined together that up to this day, she was still left reeling from everything that had happened.

Pictures flashed before her eyes, and she blinked them back fiercely only to see the very man she had fought so hard to forget time after time.

"Why did you attempt to attack Council member Siegrain?" another Councillor demanded.

_Siegrain?_

"He's evil," she spat out. "And that is not his name. Has he had all of you fooled?"

Jellal looked at her through lidded eyes. "You misunderstand, Miss Scarlet. I am not the man you think I am. I am Siegrain, honorary member of the all-good Magic Council. Jellal is my twin brother. We were separated from birth, but I know of his misdeeds. Fret not, I am not him."

She wanted to scoff. "Do you really think I'll believe that, Jellal?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Please understand, Miss Scarlet," he said with Jellal's voice—hell, he even said her last name the exact way Jellal did when he'd come up with it—and she hated that it still sent tingles down her spine. "There is no need for hostility, because I am not Jellal."

She stormed off after they'd given her her sentence—Fairy Tail had destroyed yet another town—but there was nothing quite like the destruction brewing inside of her on that day.

She never thought she'd see _him_ again.

* * *

The next time she saw him was like a blow to her gut.

Erza wanted to kill someone, and it wasn't even Natsu or Gray this time.

She'd looked up from her offending handcuffs, only to see him, leaned against one of the ornate white pillars of the Fiore Branch building, and the anger had boiled and bubbled in her gut, rising to her throat like a tidal wave. He shouldn't be able to even lay hands or step foot on this piece of history and heritage—and yet here he was, carrying himself like he owned the place.

Arms crossed and eyes closed, he'd shifted suddenly, as if sensing her presence—and then he was opening his eyes and looking up to fix her with his green-eyed gaze, simultaneously cool and searing.

Erza recoiled, a chill running down her spine, her whole body trembling—from anger or fear or something else entirely, she wasn't sure.

"Siegrain!" she hissed his misnomer, meeting his eyes with a glare, even as the guard who'd been escorting her to court fell to their knees in greeting, head bowed. Hers remained high.

"It's been a while, Erza," he drawled, one corner of his lips curling up. Hearing his voice was like a trigger in her had been pulled, and she growled softly, straining against her bonds, wishing for nothing but to lunge towards him. He looked at her shaking form, clearly amused.

"Don't be so defensive," he told her, as he approached her, shimmering and flickering. Holding out his arms. "This is a projection. My body is in Era right now." He turned slightly, looking over his shoulder to the gilded white double doors at the end of the corridor. "All the geezers beyond that door are projections, too."

Sweat beaded Erza's brow as he continued talking like the Council member he was. "There was no reason for us to personally come for such trifling business." He even turned up his nose slightly, and as Erza glared at him, she wondered how could both twin brothers be so unlikeable.

Well. Whenever she looked at Siegrain's face, she just saw Jellal reflected back at her. They were one of the same. They were evil.

"Now I see. So this was your doing?" she said through gritted teeth. "This is a pathetic farce."

Siegrain's eyes darkened, and for a moment Erza saw Jellal's eyes, taken over by the ghost of Zeref. He took a step forward, coming dangerously up close to her. She tried not to flinch as he paced, walking past her and stopping inches behind, back-to-back.

"That's not nice," he countered. "I stood up for Fairy Tail. But the geezers had to come up with someone to take the full blame for this incident, out of fear of having to bear the blame themselves."

In the corner of her eye, she looked back at him. It didn't matter, what he said to try to make himself seem like Fairy Tail's ally. No, she knew the only true ally of Fairy Tail on the Magic Council was Master Makarov's old friend, Yajima. Not anyone else. Definitely not Siegrain.

She did not trust him.

"You're a scapegoat," he drawled, and Erza had enough. She gritted her teeth as she whirled around, lunging towards him with her hands still cuffed.

"Be quiet!" she snapped, but he only smiled slightly and shrugged.

"Well," he said lightly. "No matter. There's a reason why I came here to see you."

He turned around, walking toward her, and before she knew it, his hand was coming up, fingers resting under her chin, thumb pressed against her lower lip as he leaned in so close, their foreheads almost touched.

She fixed him with a glare through the curtain of her fringe, even as her breath hitched at their proximity, and how his thumb was grazing her lip.

Who did he think he was?

He stared at her through half-lidded eyes, his long eyelashes peeking at her through blue strands.

"Do not tell them about you-know-what," he murmured into her ear, a small smile crawling up his lips. Erza thought it looked rather self-satisfied. "For both our sakes."

With that, he closed his eyes with a small exhale, and Erza lowered her head slightly, casting her face into shadow.

She did not want him to see her face, and she did not want to see his face.

He pulled away, walking further from her and towards the double doors, and Erza suddenly felt a chill from the sudden emptiness, even though it had just been a projection, devoid of any body warmth.

"Well, I'll be waiting beyond the door," he said nonchalantly. Erza stared after him, and he suddenly turned back and looked at her with that irritating, evil smile of his. "As a member of the council, of course."

_As a member of the council._ She wanted to scoff. He obviously hadn't forgotten the previous time when she'd called him out in front of the whole Council that he was not Siegrain, member of the Magic Council, but Jellal, her childhood friend turned evil.

Well, no matter. They were both evil.

The projection of Siegrain rippled and vanished into thin air, leaving only Erza and the guard, still on their knees, standing in the brightly-lit hallway. Erza stared at the empty space he'd occupied just a second ago, eyes hard and piercing.

The guard finally stirred, raising their head to look at her with bulging eyes.

"You know really important people!" they croaked in audible awe and wonder.

_Important?_

Erza's lip curled down in distaste.

"He's evil."

The guard croaked at her words, an obvious sound of confusion, a question. She didn't answer it.

_He's evil._

And the next time she saw him, she would not hesitate to bring him down.


End file.
